Automatically scoring dart board



Aug- 20, 1953 J. E. WILLIAMS 3,101,198

AUTOMATICALLY SCORING DART BOARD Filed oct. 4, 1961 2 sheets-sheet 1 INVENTOR. JAMES E.W|LL|AMS l /J/e f l indi ...au bqufn A TTORNE Y Aug. 20, 1963 J. E. WILLIAMS AUTOMATICALLY SCORING DART BOARD 2 sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 4, 1961 FIG.

FIC-1.6

INVENTOR. JAMES E. WILLIAMS United States Patent O 3,101,198 AUTOMATICALLY SCORING DART BOARD- James E. Williams, 9 Tod'Road, Norwalk, Conn.

Filed Oct. 4, 1961, Ser. No. 142,941 8 Claims. (Cl. 7S-102.2)

This invention relates to an automatic scoring target board for darts and similar missiles which do not penetrate entirely through the target. n

The problem of an.- automatic scoring target presents missile strikes a target. The .second requirement is that after a missile has struck the target the signal should be extinguished so that it can register again when the next missile strikes. The third requirement which applies only to targets in which the missile remains in the target is that there shall not be another indication when a missile is removed from a target. p

The problem for targets whichl are to be usedv with lire arms and in which the bullet passes entirely through the target was solved a half century ago. Such a target is described in U.S. Pa-tent 474,109. The target was provided with two spaced conducting surfaces with insulation between them. The .spacing wasles-s than the length of a bullet. Thus, when struck by a bullet as fthe bullet penetrated the target for a brief instant it was in contact with both conducting layers and anl electrical signal was obtained permitting electrical indication or for any other purpose such as scoring for which an electrical signal may be used. The second requirement was, of course, automatically met because the bullet passed entirely through the target and so the electrical contactwas immediately broken and the target -was set forV the next bullet.. The third requirement 'of preventing a' signal when a mis- Sile is remo-ved from the target, of course, didnotarise.

The present invention deals with targets for missiles which remain in the target such as darts, arrows and the like. It will be described more specifically'in connection with the use of darts for which targets thev invention is very well suited. Essentially in the present invention there are two conductive surfaces as inthe old targets but they are of qui-te a different nature. The iirst surface is a resilient mesh with suiiiciently large meshes so that the tip of the dart or arrow can pass through them. As more of the dart penetrates and its cross-section increases the mesh is moved inwardly. Final-fly the metallic tip strikes a second conducting layer which may also bevof, mesh although this is not essential in all modification/s of the invention. What is essential, in addition to the'oblvious limitation that the meshes of the firs-t conducting layer must be suiiciently small so that at some point the tip f the dart can no longer passis `.that the first conducting mesh must be resiliently mounted.V This may be the resilience of the mesh itself orboth conducting layers may be mounted in a suitable elastic substance suchas a foamed elastomer. The second essentialV is that the projectile must have a metallic section at its tip sho-rter than the spacing between the conducting layers butisuiciently long so that when the first mesh is bent inwardly as the dart strikes, the target contact is made. While before use fthe darts or other projectiles on the target are separate, they combine and coact when the missile strikes the target. In other words, the present invention is .not useful with a dart which is all metallic orV with a dart which does not have a long enough metallic section at its tip to make contact when the first mesh is sprung momentarily inward.

The present invention makes signals whenever the target is struck momentarily with a proper kind of missile. The signal ceases immediately as the :first mesh springs i i several requirements. The rst requirement is that there must be a reliable indication, usually electrical, when a C. ,lCe

out and, of course, when the dart or other missiler is with drawn, no signal is produced. v v

EIt should be understood that the present invention is useful in all desig'nsof targets. Thus, for example, `in certain targets where it is desired to vsignal any hit on the target the two conductive surfaces extend over the whole of the target and the signal produced when adart strikes does not tell what part of a target isfstruck.

Other targets are in the form of bulls-eyes with concentric rings. The present invention :is suitable for this type of target also but, of course, the conductive surfaces must then be broken up into annular pieces With separate elec.- tric circuits so that a signal is given which will tell what part of the target is struck. Obviously, ofcourse, the features of the present invention are not concerned with the shape of the target and perform equally well with all shapes. i i i The invention will be described in greater detail. in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIGS. 1 to 4 are cross-sections of a target at various bedded in an elastic materialv 3 and suppontedA by a backing 11 of plastic, cork board or other strong firm mab teria11.` This material may be a foamed. elastomer which gives readily under pressure but which is suiiiciently strong to retain its general form andv shape. vThe dart has a body portion 4 and a metallic or other conducting ftip 5. In FI'G..1 the dart is shown just before it strikes the target, arrowsof course indicating direction of motion. The metallic tip 5 is lshorter than the normal spacing between the wire meshes 1 and 2. The body of the dart is, of course, a -nonconductor or it may be a conducrtor with an insulated section between it and the conductivel tip. While ity is essential that` the metal'. tip 5 be shorter than the normal distance lbet'v'veen'the two wire meshes it should not be a great deal shorter. This will become apparent in FIG. 2 where ythe dart is shown as it penetrates into the target.` It' wil'ly be'seen that it bends inwardly the Wire mesh 1 because the meshes are sul ciently small so that there is a considerable amount of friction as the tip passes through the mesh. When so bent it willy be seen in FIG. 2 that the spacing between the twom'eshes becomes less than the length of the metallic tip 5 and a momentary contact is made between the two conductive layers. An electrical signal is produced' which actuates the desired elements'such as scorer andthe like. Since the signal is treated in exactly the samev way as the signal in other indicating' targetslfor bullets and is not in'any way changed by the present in# vention the processing circuits aren'o't shown.

After the dart has completely penetrated the` target as is shown in FIG. 3 the first mesh moves to its origis moved away from the other mesh and so no contact results and there are no false signals or false scoring as the darts are removed.

The darts used on the targets of FIGS. 1 to 4 are quite cheap and for many uses the target presents economic atentos y advantages; However, it does not have an indefinite life. After long use the meshes or circumference of the meshes of the irst wire mesh l may gradually enlarge to the point f erence numeral as in the earlier Iigures is no dLferent.

However, instead of relying on the enlarging cross-section of the dart as it passes through the dart "4y is provided with a shoulder 8 and metallic tip 9, the conducting'tip extending over the shoulder. The shoulder is large enough so that it cannot pass through the meshes of mesh l. As a result the mesh 1 is bent in when the dart iirst strikes as is shown in BIG. 6 but the shoulder does not pass through the mesh. The ysecond conducting layer 7 need not be a mesh. lIt can be any conducting material, for example, an elastomer with conducting property such as conducting rubber.` The space between the'two meshes may be air as is shown in FIGS. 6 to 8 at 6 or, of course, a foamed elastomer may be used as in FIGS. l to 4.

After the energy of the dart is -spentrthe resilience of the mesh 1 causes it to resume its original position pulling the dart slightly back. This is shown in IFIG; 8, again with the arrow indicating the direction of motion. The tip now no longer makes contact with the second surface 7 and the signal is extinguished. It is self-'evident from a consideration of FIG. 8 that whenV the dart is removed no signal can be produced. In order to protect the target from darts falling out, as they might if the surface of thetarget were the mesh itself, there is preferably a layer of rubber ory other elastomer 10 so that the dart will be held .in the target even after its force is spent as shown in FIG. 8. This elastic material closes up the hole when a dant is removed as .is usual with soft elastomers. Since'- the shoulder '8 strikes the meshes on vtheir wires there 'is no tendency i targets for bullets where the contact is even shorter, to provide some kind of a delay mechanism so that a signal will remain on sutliciently long to be readily perceived. 'It is obvious, of course, that a similar instrumentality may be included in recorders or scorers which utilize the features of the present invention. It is an advantage of the invention that the signal produced is suitable for any ofthe known types of indicators and scorers.

I claim:

l. A target and missile game in which the missiles do not pass through the target comprising in combination,

' (a) a target having two spaced conductive layers the iirst being resilientlymounted and capable of being bent in momentarily when struck by a missile, and

(b) missiles provided with conductive tips, the adjacent portion thereto being nonconductive, the entire length of the conductive tip being less than the normal spacing between the conductive layers of the target, means to prevent the nonconductive adjacent portion from passing .through the target whereby contact is made between the layers through the conduotive tip when the missile bends in the first layer on striking and contact is broken when the iirst layer returns to its normal position.

2. A target and missile game according to claim l in which the first conductive layer is separated from the second conductive layer by an air space.

3. A missile and target game according to claim l in whichl the rst conductive layer is separated from the second conductive layer by a layer of resilient elastomer capable of deforming readily'under the force of `the striking missile tto move the iirst conductive surface nearer to the second conductive layer. v4.- A missile and target game according to claim 3 in which the elastomer'layer is foamed elastomer.

5. A missile and target game according to claim l in i whichy the irst conductive layer is wire mesh embedded to enlarge the meshes as is in the case with ,the modilicaltion s hown in FIGS. l toll.` Therefore, [there is no possibility of the meshes being enlarged to the point where presen-t invention does not change the nature of the indication which is produced when a' missile strikes the target. [Ln this respect the indicating, recording or scoring means which have been used in the past are usable without any change. When a cumulative scoring indication is employed the short duration of the electrical signal makes no difference. However, in certain simpler tar- Vgets where only an indication is employed it has sometimes been found desirable in the past, particularly with in an elastomer.' t

l 6. A missile land target game according to claim 5 in which the missiles have a conducting tip and body of increasing cross-section and the normal mesh of the iirst conductive layer is less than the' maximum cross-section of the conductive tip of the missile whereby as the missile penetrates the mesh there is sufficient friction Ito carry the mesh with the missile a suicient distance to etiect momentary contact of the missile tip with the second conductive layer.

7. A missile and target game according to claim 1 in which the missiles have a conductive tip and a shoulder of much greater cross-section than the tip and the rst conductive layer is penetrable by the tip but not penetr-able by the shoulder.

8. A missile and target game according to claim 7 in which the first conductive layer is wire mesh with meshes of greater cross-section than the missile tip but less crosssecnion than the shoulder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 474,109 Vogel May 3, 1892 2,168,644 Browning i Aug. 8, 1939 2,341,360 Bulgin Feb. 8, 1944 2,819,084 Brown et al. Jan. 7, 1958 

1. A TARGET AND MISSILE GAME IN WHICH THE MISSILES DO NOT PASS THROUGH THE TARGET COMPRISING IN COMBINATION, (A) A TARGET HAVING TWO SPACED CONDUCTIVE LAYERS THE FIRST BEING RESILIENTLY MOUNTED AND CAPABLE OF BEING BENT IN MOMENTARILY WHEN STRUCK BY A MISSILE, AND (B) MISSILES PROVIDED WITH CONDUCTIVE TIPS, THE ADJACENT PORTION THERETO BEING NONCONDUCTIVE, THE ENTIRE LENGTH OF THE CONDUCTIVE TIP BEING LESS THAN THE NORMAL SPACING BETWEEN THE CONDUCTIVE LEYERS OF THE TARGET, MEANS TO PREVENT THE NONCONDUCTIVE ADJACENT PORTION FROM PASSING THROUGH THE TARGET WHEREBY CONTACT IS MADE BETWEEN THE LAYERS THROUGH THE CONDUCTIVE TIP WHEN THE MISSILE BENDS IN THE FIRST LAYER ON STRIKING AND CONTACT IS BROKEN WHEN THE FIRST LAYER RETURNS TO ITS NORMAL POSITION. 